New Tricks: The Howies at Maneroo Station

A new generation of farmers is bringing radical new ideas to the land, say Douglas Daly farmers, Phil and Annette Howie.

Once upon a time, to go on the land, you just followed in your father's footsteps.

Today's young farmers have tertiary degrees and join Landcare groups. Their tools of trade are quad bikes and computers. They do budgets and business plans, negotiate workplace agreements, and compare notes about weeds, pastures, crops and composite cattle breeds.

"I reckon one of the biggest changes in the past five years is the number of courses you can go to, to learn new methods," says Phil. "Everyone in this district is looking to change to better methods than we had in the past."

He and Annette have attended courses on horticulture, plant and animal nutrition, and soil health, at the nearby Douglas Daly Research Farm and interstate.

The Howies have also learned from the younger generation. Their son Chris got a degree in agricultural science, then came home and challenged some of his father's farming practices.

"He didn't like ploughing," says Phil. "That really changed my attitudes."

"The traditional way of developing country here was to plough and then plough again and then seed. That was traditional throughout Australia. We have gone back to zero till for cavalcade hay. We spray the weeds out and then go along with a knife point which opens the ground wide.

"It eliminates moisture loss. In dry times that makes the difference between the success and failure of a crop and it eliminates erosion altogether so you don't get run-off," he says.

Phil is President of the Douglas Daly Progress Association, which has been working with the Government to develop an adaptive management plan for the region.

Essentially, adaptive management means using constant research to improve decision-making about farming practices.

"We have to work with the environment," says Phil. "We want the land for our kids. They are going to have enough problems when they take over without giving them environmental headaches."

The district is leading the way in practices such as rotational cropping and cell grazing as well, led by research at the government's Douglas Daly Research Farm.

Research farm manager, Peter 'Jedd' O'Brien, says cell grazing leads to intensive grazing of paddocks for short periods, which controls weeds. Paddocks are then rested for long periods which lets pasture grow vigorously. The high density grazing means paddocks are fertilised naturally, reducing the need for chemicals, and it leads to fatter cattle and less degradation of land.

Farmers such as the Howies, at Maneroo, and Marie and Chris Muldoon at Midway, have applied cell grazing and are impressed with the early results.

Chris divided up 1000 hectares of Midway into 50 hectare paddocks, put in solar powered electric fences, and moves his cattle daily. He spent last October with a Swiss backpacker putting in 20 kilometres of fences, eight new troughs and 15 kilometres of poly pipes.

Intensive grazing has led to rich improved pastures, with an even graze and green feed in the middle, even in June, from the long periods of rest that come with cell grazing.

“The cattle are much calmer and used to people as a result of frequent handling and low stress stock handling techniques,” says Chris.

Strategic electric fencing stops cattle "camping" around water troughs, a traditional source of weeds and land degradation. Now they plod in single file towards the trough, drink, and leave again.

“In the past, areas of the Douglas Daly had a high weed burden, much of it caused by over-grazing. Our challenge has been to regenerate the pastures so the improved pastures can eventually choke the weeds out,” says Chris.

This is such a rich and productive ecosystem, you have to work with it for future generations.”